Amid the ice and snow, a dark mass suddenly bulged from the ground and slowly rose.
Black Zetsu emerged from underground and called in a low voice, "Father."
Naruto glanced at him from the corner of his eye, his tone calm. "You're quite capable, tracking me all the way here with your escape techniques."
Black Zetsu chuckled. "Once Father becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki again, doing something like this will naturally be easy."
A faint smile touched Naruto's lips.
Becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki was merely a temporary stepping stone.
The Ten-Tails itself was the God Tree's original body, left behind after Kaguya's chakra had been separated. As for the Tailed Beasts, they were ultimately nothing more than consciousnesses forcibly created by the Sage of Six Paths, modeled after the method he had used to create his two sons through Yin-Yang Release.
Therefore, what Naruto truly wanted had never been to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. He wanted to plant another Chakra Tree, reclaim the chakra cultivated by shinobi, and bear a new Chakra Fruit.
Transforming through his own chakra was true Six Paths-level power. External strength gained by borrowing Kaguya's chakra would never truly belong to him.
The existence of the Tailed Beasts' consciousnesses was not meant to make the Ten-Tails whole. They were merely nails left behind by the Sage of Six Paths to prevent Kaguya's resurrection. Once the Tailed Beasts inside Six Paths Obito had been extracted again, their consciousnesses could still be pulled out separately. That alone already explained everything.
Thus, from the beginning, Naruto had set his sights on Isshiki's Ten-Tails, which had yet to bear a Chakra Fruit. The other path was to use the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to accumulate chakra once more and eventually nurture a fruit.
Unfortunately, Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan was involved